


Mis-skatin' Identity

by LadyShadowphyre



Series: For a Triple Loop, Ice Skater Sam AU [1]
Category: Supernatural, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/M, I Don't Even Know, Ice Dancing, M/M, Masumi has a secret, Mistaken Identity, Pre-Relationship, Sam has a secret, Sastiel - Freeform, The Muses Ran Away With The Plot, the author has no regrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 21:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12155205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: Castiel is confused, Dean is insensitive, and Sam wishes Claire hadn't found those YouTube videos of professional competitive ice dancing to show Castiel.





	Mis-skatin' Identity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zetal (Rodinia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/gifts).
  * Inspired by [What's a Best Friend For If He Won't Kick Your Ass When You Need It?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12037710) by [Zetal (Rodinia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal). 



> Shamelessly borrowing a couple of OCs from Zetal for her birthday present. I tried to keep them in the same condition in which they were loaned to me, but the muses had other ideas. ^^U Happy birthday, darling!

**S** AM WINCHESTER HAD come to expect a wide variety of reasons for Castiel, Angel of the Lord and part time Hunter, to call his name in the specific tone of voice he had for curious uncertainty. The angel was curious about a lot of different aspects of various human cultures, and his lack of a personal frame of reference outside of some disjointed memories left behind when Jimmy Novak was reaped meant that he had questions often. Unfortunately, this lack of a frame of reference for current social boundaries meant that the questions he had and could end up asking at random times ranged from "why do white socks turn pink if washed with red flannel shirts?" to "if the pizza man truly loves this babysitter, then why is he smacking her rear?"

That one had not required an immediate answer, but  _ had  _ prompted a silent argument between Sam and Dean about not showing the angel bad porn and who would end up fielding the angel's questions from then on. Ultimately, Castiel had made the decision for them by directing more and more of his questions to Sam rather than Dean, even when both brothers were present. At one point, after a particularly mild question which Castiel had again directed to Sam, Dean had demanded to know why the angel didn't ask him. Castiel's response - "Because Sam does not act as if I am an idiot for not knowing or for asking." - had made Dean blush from shame he wouldn't admit to feeling and sulk for two days.

So when he heard the familiar voice calling "Sam?" from over where Castiel was sitting in front of the laptop watching something on YouTube, the younger Winchester was prepared for the question to be about anything from cat videos to whatever most recent porn clip Dean had left open and was appropriately cautious.

"What's up, Cas?"

"Up is relative to an individual's perception of localized gravitational pull-- oh," Castiel shook his head and gestured to the computer screen. "I was wondering how you managed to be in two different regions of the planet at once."

Sam took a moment to process that and, failing, asked blankly, "What?"

"These videos indicate a wide range of dates and public venues," Castiel explained, not looking up from the laptop. "While I did not keep close track of your movements prior to our meeting during the breaking of the seals, I do not know how you could have been in Concrete, Washington, while simultaneously being in Beijing, China." Consideringly, as if he wasn't breaking Sam's brain to understand what Castiel was talking about, he added, "You show a remarkable level of flexibility."

"Well, we know demons can jump around all over the globe almost as easily as angels," Dean's attention had been caught now, and he was looking at Sam with traces of the suspicion he'd watched Sam with during the Apocalypse. It made Sam feel sick. "You got somethin' you wanna tell us, Sam?"

Sam grit his teeth and ignored his brother, getting up to come over to the table where Castiel was watching the videos to get a look. What he saw was... not what he'd expected, and yet somehow it left him feeling like he really should have seen this coming. Waves of memory and heartbreak crashed down over him for a moment and it took several tries to get himself under control enough to speak.

"That's not me, Cas," he said quietly, subdued. "I know he looks a lot like me, but... we're not the same person." He felt more than saw Castiel turn his head up to look at him, but Sam's eyes were on the screen and the figures gliding around the ice of a public skating arena, one of whom looked eerily similar to him.

"You seem unsurprised by his appearance," the angel ventured, his tone cautious enough that Sam knew he must have guessed that something was wrong. It took some effort, but Sam managed a smile for the angel.

"You're not the first person to get us confused," he said. "The first thing Jess did upon being introduced to me by Brady was ask why he hadn't told her he wanted her to meet Masumi Kunz, and then asked me if Jolanda had accompanied me to visit Stanford."

"That seems like an awkward first meeting," Castiel remarked, not quite managing to cover Dean's bewildered question of, "Who the hell is Masumi Kunz?"

"He's a figure skater," Sam admitted reluctantly, not looking at Dean. He really didn't want to have to talk about this in front of his older brother, but Castiel had asked. "Jess was an avid follower of the professional figure skating circuit, and the ice dancers specifically. Masumi Kunz and Jolanda Zwicky were Switzerland's top contenders among the ice dancers for over a decade." He snorted. "Brady wanted me to run with the mistake, but since I wasn't actually a Swiss professional ice dancer I figured it was better to come clean."

"Wait a minute," Dean interrupted, getting up to come and peer over Castiel's other shoulder. "Why are you watching figure skating, Cas?"

"Claire suggested that I watch these videos," Castiel said evenly, leaning slightly away from Dean and towards Sam as if to give him more room to look. Sam tried not to look as pathetically grateful for the brief brush of anchoring contact from Castiel's shoulder against his leg as he felt. "Having met you both, I assumed that she had recognized Sam, or rather his resemblance to this Masumi Kunz. The strength and athleticism shown by the skaters is admirable and well within the bounds of which I know Sam to be capable, and the synchronicity between the pairs reminds me of you and Sam when you are working together on a hunt, completely in tune with each other."

Sam felt himself flinch slightly and resolutely kept his eyes on the screen, watching as the pair spun into each other smoothly and Masumi lifted Jolanda cleanly off the ice without either of them actually looking at each other to do so. How long had it been since he and Dean could say they had been as in synch with each other as the skaters were, aware of each other and perfectly trusting that the other would be exactly where they needed to be when they needed to be there? And when had he and Dean ever changed off lead back and forth without Sam having to fight for it until he'd been knocked down often enough that he learned to stop fighting, even if it turned out later he was right?

When was the last time he'd been right and it hadn't still gotten innocents killed?

Masumi and Jolanda took their final poses and Sam finally managed to wrench his gaze away from the screen. He patted Castiel on the shoulder and stepped away, thinking it might be a good idea to go get a shower now so that he would have some cover for the turmoil he could feel threatening to spill over.

"Wow," Dean was saying behind him in the voice he used when something had him seriously creeped out. "This guy's even got Sam's dimples!"

"Dean," Castiel began chidingly.

Sam didn't hear whatever came next as the bathroom door closed firmly behind him. He sank down to the floor and leaned against it, closing his eyes against the burn as memories crashed through the blocks he had put up and overwhelmed him. Jess, golden curls almost glowing under the bright lights of the skating rink as the two of them moved through a basic step sequence together, smiling encouragingly with bright green eyes so like Dean's as Sam attempted one of the more complicated spins, her laughter when he overbalanced and fell on his ass and her yelp as he recovered more quickly than a beginner probably should and caught her around the waist. Secret hours put in at public ice rinks after dark during long weeks when Dean and Dad were gone and he had the chance to practice, always so careful not to try anything too complicated until daylight when the rink was open to the public and he had someone nearby to spot him or call the ambulance if he landed wrong, praying that he would never need it so he wouldn't have to lie to his father and brother and tell them it was an accident from a nearby hunt instead of the truth they would think was the official-tailored truth.

A boy a little older than him, with bad teeth and brittle bones crouching in the same abandoned house in Flagstaff. A breathy whisper around a punctured lung from a stab wound in the chest, not enough to kill immediately but enough to do the job in a frail body if no help could be found, a whispered plea for help, to live, reaching out with one spindly hand and a wheezing promise that he didn't mean any harm, the boy's flesh shifting around as his skin slowly sloughed off to reveal a perfect copy of Sam. Hazel eyes identical to his own widening and spilling over with tears as the shapeshifter learned everything that Sam knew, everything that he was and wanted to be and could never be allowed to become.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, an incoming text message. Sam's lips twitched up through the salt tracks on his cheeks as he reached for it, knowing before he even opened the text who was on the other end of the unknown international number.

_ "Your brother's a dick, huh?" _

Sam gave a laugh that was more sob than humor and nodded, even though he was alone in the room. The phone buzzed again.

_ "I'm sorry it couldn't be you." _

"I'm glad one of us could," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Thank you for living my dream for me."

_ "Least I could do, brother. You saved my life that night when you could have just as easily finished the job." _ A moment later, another text came in.  _ "Thank you for living." _

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted whatever Sam might have said in response, and he hastily wiped at his face. "Yeah?"

"Sam," Castiel said from the other side of the door. "Dean has gone out to the bar, and has expressed a preference that we not 'wait up' for him."

"Right," he chuckled a little thickly. "Thanks, Cas."

"You're welcome," Castiel paused, then added awkwardly. "I apologize for distressing you earlier. It was not my intention to bring up painful memories for you."

"...I know," Sam said on the edge of a sigh. He scrubbed a hand over his face and levered himself up from the floor, then paused. "Hey Cas? Have you gotten a chance to try ice skating before?"

"I have not," the angel responded, and Sam could easily picture the familiar curious head tilt. "Would you be willing to instruct me?"

Trust Castiel to have heard the admission that Dean hadn't, Sam thought with a smile. "Sure, Cas," he said fondly. "Next time we're someplace with an ice rink, I'll teach you how to skate."

"I look forward to it," Castiel answered softly. Footsteps moved away from the door, and the phone in Sam's hand buzzed against his skin.

_ "I like your angel. Think he could be your Chris?" _

Sam grinned to himself at the thought and shook his head, though it was seeming more and more like a possibility than he'd once thought.

"Maybe," he murmured wistfully as his thumb brushed across the screen to delete the string of messages in case Dean went snooping in his phone again. Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he quickly splashed some water on his face to clear the remaining traces of his tears and opened the door again. Maybe there were some videos of Masumi and Jolanda that Castiel hadn't gotten to yet.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Masumi apparently has a silver allergy now... ^^U Eh, so long as he doesn't actually get cut with those silver medals he and Jolanda win, right? ...Right? (Shh! Nobody tell Dean!)
> 
> 2008-9 Grand Prix Cup of China - Ice Dancing, Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, 6th Place  
> Compulsory Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrmjbHMf12s  
> Original Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcXzOFSRbqs  
> Free Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hBN1T_n9E
> 
> The 2008 Figure Skating Grand Prix featured the Cup of China taking place in Beijing on November 6th through 9th. Sam Winchester was in Concrete, Washington, during that time dealing with the cursed coin in the fountain of the Chinese restaurant.


End file.
